A conventional vehicle door includes two panels, an inner panel and an outer panel, one of the panels having vehicle components mounted thereon. The inner and outer panels are connected together along flanges to form the door. The panels are typically stamped steel and serve as load bearing structural members. Vehicle doors in which the panels serve as structural members are undesirable because they are relatively heavy. Further, conventional vehicle doors must be fully assembled before shipping to a final vehicle assembly site as special tooling is often required for assembly of the vehicle components to the panels. The panels also need to be handled with special care during transport since surface damage of the vehicle panels may occur.
Other known vehicle doors have provided a frame member on which structural panels are attached. These doors include a frame member that has flanges for attaching an inner panel that carries vehicle components. A structural outer panel is then connected to a flange on the inner panel. One disadvantage to flange attached inner and outer panels is that the vehicle door must still be fully assembled before shipping because of special tooling requirements. Further, known vehicle doors of this type are still relatively heavy since the panels provide the structural rigidity for the vehicle door.
Thus, vehicle doors typically have inner and outer panels as a main structural component. The panels are relatively heavy due to the required structural strength for the door. Further, these structural members must be assembled prior to final assembly due to expensive tooling requirements, thereby necessitating the need for special handling of the door to insure against surface damage. Therefore, there exists a need for a vehicle door assembly which provides for modularity of design while decreasing weight and manufacturing costs.